docs: def firstStringInList(literalEntities, prefLanguage="en"):
      """
      from a list of literals, returns the one in prefLanguage
      if no language specification is available, return first element
      """
      match = ""
  
      if len(literalEntities) == 1:
          match = literalEntities[0]
      elif len(literalEntities) > 1:
          for x in literalEntities:
              if getattr(x, 'language') and getattr(x,
                                                    'language') == prefLanguage:
                  match = x
          if not match:  # don't bother about language
              match = literalEntities[0]
      return match